This application claims priority from copending provisional application Ser. No. 60/410,246, filed on Sep. 12, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), originally feline T-lymphotropic lentivirus, was first reported by Pederson et al., Science, (1987) 235:790-793 and has been identified in domestic cats and cheetahs. The infection is endemic in cats throughout the world. Like HIV, FIV is an international concern. According to the American Association of Feline Practitioners, up to one in twelve cats may test positive for FIV. After infection, there is a transient period of fever, lymphadenopathy and neutropenia. Most cats recover from this stage and appear normal for months or years before immunodeficiency occurs. Due to this latent manifestation of immunodeficiency, it would be unduly hazardous to utilize a live virus vaccine for the treatment or prevention of FIV. Although monclonal antibodies specific for epitopes of FIV-encoded antigens or antigenic proteins are known, i.e. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,177,014 and 5,219,725, these antibodies are not capable of recognizing inactivated FIV. This means that for current, commercial FIV vaccines, all of which utilize inactivated FIV, there are no known monoclonal antibodies useful for the determination of virus quantity or the potency of the inactivated FIV component in a vaccine composition.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a monoclonal antibody specific for an epitope of an inactivated FIV glycoprotein.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method for the determination of the quantity of an inactivated FIV.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method to determine the potency of an inactivated FIV vaccine.
It is a feature of this invention that the monoclonal antibody of the invention is specific for the epitope of an inactivated FIV glycoprotein and does not recognize epitopes of live FIV glycoproteins, proteins or antigens.
Further objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth herein below.